Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum: two-minute review
While I wouldn’t put the Samsung Jet 85 Pet in my top five list of cordless stick vacuum cleaners, it’s still a very competent performer, especially on hard floors. It’s easy to select a specific power band to suit the task in hand – though I question why anyone would want to use the eponymous 'Jet' mode, which seems too powerful for most cleaning scenarios. I missed having some headlights attached to the brush head – these appear on some of the best cordless vacuum cleaners and I think they can be really useful when cleaning in darker areas. But on the plus side, this model comes with one of the best mini motorised pet hair brush heads in the business – easily up there with Dyson’s equivalent.
I found the Jet’s styling is quite bland for the high asking price, but was pretty impressed by its overall lightness and comfort in the hand. In fact, I think you could vacuum for quite some time with this model before feeling much fatigue in the wrist and lower arm. It steers around the home exceptionally well, which is a good thing for those with a lot of furniture and standing ornaments. If ergonomic comfort is a priority and you have a lot of hairy pets, the Samsung Jet 85 could be the best vacuum cleaner for you. However, there are a few better options out there if you're looking for more of an all-rounder.
Samsung Jet 85 Pet review: price & availability
- How much does it cost? RRP £479
- When is it available? Available now
- Where can you get it? Available in the UK
Samsung doesn’t list the Jet 85 range on its US website – instead it flits from the Jet 75 to the Jet 90. Nevertheless, according to the specs, the US-specific Jet 75 is nearest in performance terms to the Jet 85 on review here.
The Samsung Jet 85 Pet is priced in the upper tier of cordless vacs – it’s more expensive to buy than a similar Shark Stratos, but about £120 less than the much more sophisticated Dyson V15 Detect.
In the UK, you can buy the Samsung Jet 85 Pet directly from Samsung for £479, Amazon, where it’s shifting for a knockdown £299 or John Lewis & Partners and Argos.
- Value for money score: 3 out of 5
Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum cleaner specs
Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum cleaner review: design
- Light in the hand
- Ergonomic handle
- Four power bands
The Samsung Jet 85 Pet is available in two configurations. There's the Pet-specific model I'm reviewing here, which comes with a single motorised brush head for both hard floors and carpet. Alternatively, there's the Complete variant, which comes with two main motorised brush heads : one for hard floors, the other for carpet.
When it comes to overall design, the Samsung Jet 85 Pet can’t compete with the likes of Roidmi, Tineco and Dyson, all of which consistently push the boat out with their shiny, colourful, high-quality plastics and attractive sci-fi style infotainment interfaces.
By contrast, this model is rather dull looking and the seemingly robust plastics feel a bit on the cheap side. Nevertheless, most users aren’t interested in how flash-looking or tech-laden their home devices are, and would prefer a machine that gets the task in hand done.
Let’s start at the top of the machine. Unlike, say, the Dyson V15 and Gen5, the Jet 85’s control, battery and dustbin module is thoughtfully designed to provide great comfort in the hand with no protruding parts in the way. It also features a clear black-and-white LCD screen and a simple on/off power switch with plus and minus signs for tapping through the four power bands – Min, Mid, Max and Jet.
The bin section is a very simple affair and nothing like as innovative as Dyson’s lever-operated hatch or Gtech’s brilliant slide-and-release bin barrel. Instead, the Jet’s 0.8-litre cylinder simply unclips and is emptied by unscrewing the top and tipping its contents into the kitchen dustbin. Since the container has a very smooth interior, all detritus drops out with no need to use any fingers to dig out clumps of pet hair.
The Jet 85’s filtration system comprises five steps, from the main washable cyclone through to a fine dust filter and washable micro filter. This system is said to 'trap 99.999% of dust’. Mind, as is the case with all bagless vacs, it’s best to steer clear of fire ash and fine sawdust or the motor could be damaged. If regular fireplace cleaning is your wont, consider a bagged hand-vac like the little Gtech ProLite.
According to the stats, the Jet 85’s HexaJet Motor develops 210W of suction oomph though all you need to know is that it’s plenty powerful enough for all household tasks. In fact, the suction power in Jet mode is so strong you’ll hardly find any use for it.
Heading to the battery, this model ships with a single removable 2200mA battery that produces a decent-enough running time of 44 minutes when used with the motorised brush head in Min power mode (you can read more about battery life in the Performance section).
Moving down the chunky aluminium suction tube, this Pet model comes with just one main brush head, equipped with a motorised roller comprising two bristle brushes and a rubberised carpet beater, while just in front of it is a 1cm mini cloth roller for snatching larger debris. Sadly there is no LED headlight on the front, which is a bit of an oversight given the usefulness of lighting when cleaning in dark areas, like under the sofa. On the plus side, the head steers superbly well and articulates to a very decent angle. However it’s still no match for the Dyson Gen5’s near 90-degree steering angle.
Like the majority of cordless stick vacs, this model won’t stand up on its own, which means storing it in its wall-mounted stand-cum-charger. The stand itself is a bit fiddly and it might take you quite a few seconds to locate the recessed input for the supplied charging plug.
Like all stick vacs, the Jet 85 easily transforms into a handheld device for detailed cleaning. Aside from the main brush head, it ships with an excellent mini motorised pet bed/sofa brush, a combination tool, a crevice tool and a bendy adapter that helps get the hand tools into the tightest of spots.
- Design score: 4 out of 5
Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum cleaner review: performance
- Excellent manoeuvrability
- Not the best carpet performance
- ... but perfect for hard floors
When it comes to using a stick vacuum on carpet, it’s more about brush design and airflow than outright suction power. In fact, the more power applied to the brush head on carpet, the harder it is to push the vacuum – any vac in fact. And you can forget about using anything higher than the lowest setting when on deep pile, because no vacuum cleaner with a motorised brush can handle that without the brush grinding to a halt.
A prime example of brush design and air flow versus suction is the excellent Gtech AirRam 2. This upright model doesn’t appear to have anything like the suction of this model or the Dyson Gen5, but its brush design and really short airway channel have the ability to fill the Gtech’s bin with dog hair in just over a minute, and for a fraction of the cost of a Dyson.
Consequently, on medium-pile carpet, the Samsung Jet 85 was competent enough but not a patch on either the Gen5 or AirRam 2 when it came to sheer lifting power. Nevertheless, using its sole motorised brush roller the Samsung did well in our biscuit crumbs and flour test on medium-pile carpet when used in Min mode. It took just one forward pass to eradicate all traces of biscuit, but I did have to perform a few extra passes in the higher Mid mode to rid the carpet of flour.
When it came to the hard floor test using biscuit crumbs and flour in Min mode, the Jet 85 sucked up half of the detritus but pushed the remaining crumbs forward so I changed it to Mid power and it completely sucked up the rest without a hiccup. Thankfully, the oats test on both hard floor and carpet was a resounding success, even in Minimum mode.
I then tried the ultimate test for any vac – Crunchy Nut cornflakes. This obstreperous substance catches out most stick vacs on hard floors and the Jet 85 was no exception. It not only pushed the entire lot forward but it scattered a few too. In fact, the only way I was able to collect the flakes was by selecting Max mode and pulling the vac backwards with its floor head at a slight downward angle.
The reason this vac was unable to collect the flakes on the hard floor is pretty obvious – there’s a small 2cm towelling roller in front of the brush head that sits flush to the floor. This mini roller is great for snagging smaller detritus like oat flakes on hard floors, but because there’s no gap at all between the front of the unit and the slippery floor, there’s no way it could ever snatch larger items. For comparison I reached for my two trusty yard-stick vacs – the Gtech AirRam 2 and Dyson Gen5. The Gtech also pushed most of the flakes forward but it was still able to collect most of them when I continued in a forward direction. As for the Dyson Gen5 – both the hard floor and carpet heads sucked every last flake up with one short forward sweep.
When used on a medium-pile rug full of Labrador hair, the Jet seemed to push the hair forward into a tangled bundle without collecting it, so I had to perform a reverse and quick forward sweep action to solve the issue. Not ideal, it must be said, but not the end of the world either.
I also had a small issue with my thin Indian rug which is notorious for stopping some motorised rollers in their tracks. True to form, the rug proved a bit too much of a battle for the Jet 85 – it ground to a halt when pushed in a lengthways direction, although managed just fine when used widthways. I should add that, while tricky to push, both the Dyson and Gtech have been pretty good on this rug.
I’ve been mostly impressed with the Jet 85’s running times in all four power modes. In Min mode it continued for a respectable 44 minutes while Mid mode gave me 21 minutes of vacuuming. As expected, Max mode chewed more battery but provided 11 minutes worth of vacuuming. However, Jet mode, the vacuum's most powerful setting, produced just seven minutes of hardcore vacuuming. To be honest I can’t see many occasions where you’d ever need to use Jet mode unless, perhaps, using the crevice tool to suck up cigarette ash from the side of a car seat.
Thankfully this vac is fairly quiet so it shouldn’t disturb the neighbourhood. Min mode recorded 68.5dB, Max was 76.2dB and Jet was naturally loudest at a considerable 81.7dB.
As mentioned above, this pet-specific model ships with a motorised pet brush and it’s an exceptional performer on dog beds, car seats and sofas, removing most evidence of pet hair in a thrice. Very impressive.
Although the bin emptying system isn’t as sophisticated as a Dyson or for that matter the Gtech AirRam 2, it’s easy enough to remove its 0.8-litre dust container, unscrew the top and empty its contents into the bin, with no need to extricate clumps of remaining hair with the fingers. It was also exceptionally easy to clean the interior and filter housing. However, it was a bit tricky trying to fit the container back onto the unit.
For me, the highlights of this unit are its handle design, manoeuvrability and overall lightness. It feels much more comfortable in the hand than any Dyson, mostly because the handle is right at the back with no filter housings getting in the way. No, it’s not as comfortable to use as a Roidmi vac with its stylishly curved handle but it’s better than many other stick vacs of this nature. I also liked the way the Jet steered around with relative ease, making it easy to vacuum in really tight spaces. Above all, I instantly noticed how light it felt and was quite surprised that when I weighed the whole shebang, it clocked in at a rather weighty 4.1 kilos. And yet when you use it, it feels light enough in the hand to go on vacuuming till the cows come home.
- Performance score: 3.5 out of 5
Should you buy the Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum cleaner?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
How I tested the Samsung Jet 85 Pet
I tested the Samsung Jet 85 Pet vacuum cleaner on a variety of surfaces, including deep- and medium-pile carpet, a thin rug, and hard wooden floors, trying all the different modes and attachments. I also ran TechRadar's usual suction tests, seeing how effectively it picked up flour, oats, biscuit crumbs, and cereal. Because it's a pet vacuum, I focused also on how well it coped with my dog's hair. I recorded how long the Jet 85 lasted on a single charge in each mode. I compared all my findings against other vacuum cleaners I've reviewed (of which there are many!) to see how it stacks up in the wider market, and if it represents good value for money.
